Thursday, November 22, 2012

US Potatoes Dinner

Since my Quay Lo and I came together, potatoes are available in our home at all times. There are many dishes
I have made with potatoes as an ingredient. As you might expect, these have been either an appetizer or
more commonly as a side dish to the main course. So when I received an invitation to attend a
private dinner at the Le Meridian hosted by the United States Potato
Board (USPB) last
Friday, I accepted, wondering how would it be possible to make an event out of this standard workhorse of carbohydrates that, along with bread, mark a distinction between our household's two food cultures. Little did I imagine that I was setting off to rediscover an ingredient of seemingly boundless variability and culinary application.

The meal was prepared Le Meridian’s Executive Chef Antoine Rodriguez.

When the guests arrived at the dinner, we were greeted with
a room decorated with a large variety of potatoes on display and, though I understood that this root vegetable came in multiple variations, it was still very impressive to see them all together. Based on that alone, I sensed that my regard for the lowly potato had been raised a notch or two. To a cook, whose culinary background had little to do with potatoes, except for an occasional treat of french fries, just walking into the room was an eye opener.

I would never have thought of using potatos as the center piece
of a table setting. "What a great idea" I thought, and "isn't this fun, I am seeing something new to me"!

Before the presentation and cooking demostration started, we
were served with potato canapés.

Vichyssoises, best described as a cold potato soup, and featuring 3 varieties of U.S. potatos

U.S. Blue Purple potato dumpling filled with spicy coconut and
prawns

US Round Red Potato case with chicken rendang in this delightful fusion of East & West

followed by a presentation by Mr. Eddie, a local representative for the sponsor, about the different varieties of U.S. potatos, the history and growing characteristics, the nutritional values, and how the potato became a mainstay crop in the U.S.

This was an informative part of the evening. I was surprised. I mean, after all, if someone suggested that you spend your Friday evening learning about U.S. potatos, would you even consider it? I was glad I had done so. Mr. Eddy had lots of observations to share. For example, we learned that 40% of the utilization of U.S. potato
production is for frozen potato products.

After the Eddie’s presentation, Miss Carina Lipold, Health and Wellness Expert spoke about the nutritional values of potatoes.

Not surprisingly, the potato is a power pack of admirable nutritional value.

I was surprised, however, that 100 gms of white potato has a lower kcal value as compared to pasta, rice, or banana.

Next was the cooking demo
by Chef Antoine Rodrigues which we were all eager for.

Chef showed us how he made these yummilicious appetizers from potatoes.

US Russet potato and US Blue Purple potato cake with Garlic
and Chives Cream Sauce

If you are interested to find out more about U.S. potatoes you might want to visit the United States Potato Board website.

I would like to thank my friend Shannon of Just as Delish for passing my contact to Jay Mee of EverQuest Sdn. Bhd. so they could send me the invitation. A big Thank You to USPB and Jay Mee for having me and giving me an opportunity to learn so much more about potatoes. Now, I feel I could come up with lots of new delicious and healthy dishes with all kinds of potatoes as an ingredient.

I will share with you all the recipes of the above dishes in my next post. Stay tuned!

Potato feast! Out of all these dishes, I like the potato chawanmushi & the croquette. The Japanese potato croquette is one of my fa with their homemade mayonnaise but what I've found the most interested dish must be the potato chocolate cake. Did they use potato flour to make the cake or the fresh potato puree? Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this interesting post with us!

Jessie, me too, I like the potato chawanmushi too. The croquette went very well with the spicy tomato sauce the Chef prepared. If you like to have the recipe for the potato chocolate cake, let me know. I can email it to you. Still have not had the green light if I can openly share the recipes here.

Blue potatoes sound interesting. I love potatoes and have recently fell in love with Red Potatoes. They are so flavourful and has a very good bite to it. It doesn't become starchy if you cook it for a little too long. I think it will be a good idea for curry chicken :)

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A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.

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I wish to thank those who have given me AWARDS. I feel really honored and thankful to you all. I have decided not to display the awards in my blog or pass it on because I feel it is impossible for me to pass it on to all the deserving blogs. They are so many and I do not feel comfortable leaving anyone out. I hope you appreciate how I feel. Once again Thanks a Million for thinking of me.